A red-tailed hawk perched on the rotor of a Jacksonville air ambulance helicopter within hours of the aircraft being named Dolly, the crew says, just a day after Dolly Parton died at age 80. Life Flight Jacksonville shared the moment on its Facebook page, calling it the most unexpected and special visitor the crew had ever seen land on one of its aircraft.
Parton died on Tuesday, according to Action News Jax, and the hawk’s arrival came not long after Life Flight Jacksonville had christened one of its helicopters in her honor. On its Facebook page, the crew wrote that a red-tailed hawk landed on the aircraft’s rotor and appeared to be part of the naming occasion, adding, “I think she approves of the name!”
Life Flight Jacksonville transports critically injured people to area hospitals across Northeast Florida, and the program has a long history in the region. It was established on August 3, 1980, as Florida’s second hospital-based air ambulance program, debuting with a single-engine helicopter operating from Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville, according to Wolfson Children’s Hospital. In the 46 years since, the service has completed more than 25,000 patient transport missions.
A Growing Fleet Over Rural Florida and Georgia
The program’s footprint has continued to expand in recent years. Air Methods, which operates Life Flight Jacksonville, added a third emergency helicopter to the fleet in collaboration with Baptist Health and Wolfson Children’s Hospital in April 2025, a move the Jacksonville Daily Record reported was meant to increase coverage in rural and isolated areas. The added aircraft allows for rapid interfacility transport of critically ill pediatric and adult patients across the First Coast…